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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27277609">On and on, With You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalevolentMagpie/pseuds/MalevolentMagpie'>MalevolentMagpie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Afterlife, Bittersweet, Dancing, Ghosts, Halloween, Happy Ending, Haunted Houses, Inspired by Fanart, M/M, References to Hate Crime, References to Homophobia, SHEITH - Freeform, Sheith Halloween 2020, TrickOrSheith, True Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:16:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,988</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27277609</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalevolentMagpie/pseuds/MalevolentMagpie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Voltron Paranormal Investigators ghost-hunting team finally gets their big break, a guaranteed-to-be haunted house. This is it. A real ghost, and they’re going to hunt it to make their fortunes.</p><p>For Sheith Halloween 2020, Prompt Day: “Haunted House.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Shiro (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>92</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>On and on, With You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I felt so inspired when I saw @jaja_han’s <a href="https://twitter.com/jaja_han/status/1304577950549934080/photo/1">beautiful, touching artpiece</a> on Twitter. This fic is my humble offering.</p><p>If you’re the type that likes to have music for music scenes, I was thinking of something like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7xz3r6s1Iw">“Exploration” from the Coraline soundtrack</a> for the music scene.</p><p>*Edit: Sorry that the html markup for the links above wasn't working before, for some reason. The problem appears to have magically resolved itself now, but just in case, below are the text link addresses if it happens again:<br/>https://twitter.com/jaja_han/status/1304577950549934080/photo/1<br/>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7xz3r6s1Iw</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“This is it, Pidge. An honest-to-goodness haunting, practically in our backyard.”</p><p>“It’s in the next state over, Lance,” said Hunk from the passenger’s seat of their beat-up van. </p><p>“Ehh, relatively speaking.”</p><p>Pidge turned down old Freddie, the only music the three of them could ever seem to agree on, and returned her hand to the steering wheel. “Alright, now that we’ve got time, give us the rundown, Lance.”</p><p>Lance leaned forward, licking the cheesy dust off his fingers before reaching into his backpack for a marked-up old notebook. “Edwardian. Fairly well-preserved despite never having been under private ownership since its original owners. It’s been state-owned ever since, and they keep up with the necessary repairs and restorations. Granted landmark status by the state, but no museum or anything has been installed because it’s been in policy limbo while the town and state governments debate what to do with the property - looks like it’ll stay that way for the foreseeable future. Locals say it’s the magic of the place keeping the debates raging.” He waggled his eyebrows.</p><p>“Huh. What about the haunting history?” said Hunk as he fiddled with their detection tech. </p><p>“Well like I said, it only ever had one set of owners. Old, distinguished family - the heads of the town, hence the house’s landmark status. According to the history books, there was a huge scandal with a boy that the family took in as a baby. They adopted him and raised him as their own alongside their biological son. By all accounts, the two brothers were thick as thieves. When the boys were already grown, the head of the household died, and his widow followed soon after - sounded like his death hit her pretty hard. So then it was just the two boys in the house. Anyway, after a few years it was discovered that the brothers weren’t just close. They were… <em> very </em> close. The whole town was in an uproar - I mean, it was the early 1900s, you can imagine what they thought about a gay couple, much less adopted siblings originally from different classes, one of which was likely an illegitimate child, in a gay relationship. The records are a little vague about what happened next (beyond all the outrage in the local editorials), but apparently both men suddenly perished under mysterious circumstances. Given the timing and the era, I feel pretty confident in taking a wild guess about what happened to them.”</p><p>The car was silent. </p><p>“That’s so awful,” said Hunk quietly. “I hope they found peace.”</p><p>“Weeeeell, that’s the thing,” said Lance. “Only one family of owners, two of which died a likely violent and definitely unjust and untimely death? Take a guess on who exactly people have reported seeing throughout the years while working on repairs for the house.”</p><p>“I guess, two young men in turn-of-the-century garb,” said Pidge dryly. </p><p>“Ding, ding, ding!” </p><p>When they finally pulled up to the old house two hours later, permit from the town government firmly in their pockets, they took a moment to appreciate the view. </p><p>The house was grand, of a functional design but with the lingering ornamental flair of the Victorian style. The walls and exterior trim were painted a creamy yellow, as they had been more than a hundred years ago. There were numerous tall and narrow arch windows on all sides and the front porch was crowned with an ornate railing that penned in the second floor balcony. The third floor consisted solely of a balconied garret with a slate blue, flat-top tented roof, which finished off the building’s slightly romantic and whimsical air. A bronze landmark plaque beside the dark, wooden front doors identified it as the historic Shirogane family house, built circa 1904.</p><p>Lance whistled low. “Uh, if they’re ever looking for private buyers, I vote that we make this our new headquarters.”</p><p>“With what money?” said Hunk. </p><p>“With the fabulous piles of dough that are going to come in as soon as we cash in on our first <em> real </em> ghost sighting, of course!” </p><p>“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” said Pidge. “First we have to actually see the ghosts.” She lifted her hand and knocked out of routine courtesy, calling, “Voltron Paranormal Investigators! We have a permit; we’re coming in!” </p><p>The front doors opened to a vestibule and a wide entrance hall. The doorway on the left side of the hall led to a spacious drawing room; the door on the right, to a slightly smaller sitting room. Further down the hall, on the right, was the large dining room, with the conservatory budding off from it. At the back of the house lay the kitchen and pantry, with the many bedrooms taking up the entire second floor.</p><p>The inside of the residence was sparsely decorated, most of the original belongings having been sold off or lost throughout the decades. There was only one large painting still left in the house, hanging over the drawing room fireplace behind a protective glass case, as well as some of the larger furniture that had survived a century of weathering. The furniture pieces were for the most part covered with white cloth, save a few pieces that, due to vandalism or other reasons, had been uncovered. Here and there you could find other signs of the controlled chaos that was the mark of an abandoned building. A large, round table lay upturned on its side in the drawing room. Beside it lay a random pile of lumber and painting material likely left behind by the restoration team.</p><p>The painting over the fireplace, however, was what truly drew the eye. It depicted a kindly-looking, older Asian man and woman sitting beside each other and holding hands. Behind them stood two rather handsome young men, one of whom was clearly a direct descendant of the older couple, with confident features and a messy lock of hair that almost obscured his gentle eyes. The other boy was shorter and slight, with shaggy black hair loosely pulled back into a short ponytail. </p><p>“Those must be our suspects,” said Lance as Pidge and Hunk busied themselves setting up shop in the sitting room across the hall. </p><p>The day passed, as it usually did, in boring silence. Occasionally, one or another Voltron member would go exploring the upper floors and report back that they had felt a mysterious chill in the air or heard a creaking floorboard where no one was walking, but every time they turned their machines on the spot in question, the tools registered no readings. Pidge and Hunk tinkered and recalibrated, to no avail. At one point, almost all of them swore they had seen a ghostly figure in their peripheral vision, which of course was gone when they all turned to fully look. At long last, night fell, and the team readied their full arsenal. </p><p>“This is it, boys. Showtime. Time to man up and face the real deal.”</p><p>Pidge rolled her eyes. “Well, I can’t really ‘man up,’ Lance, since I’m not one of these so-called ‘boys’ you’re refe-” </p><p>“Shh!” Hunk interjected with a finger in the air. “Do you guys hear that?”</p><p>Pidge and Lance immediately quieted and tried to listen. There was a soft clattering sound coming from the drawing room, that periodically stopped and restarted. As quietly as they could, the three tiptoed to the room, instruments at the ready. When the clattering started back up, they rushed into the room, only to find that one of the many large, stately windows lining the room was ajar and the night breeze was batting the windowpane gently against its frame. </p><p>Pidge walked over and pulled it shut. </p><p>The rest of the night passed equally uneventfully. The Voltron team was constantly regaled with a soundtrack of creaks and suspicious sounds, but no more than was standard for a house this old. There was the occasional howl of the wind through the dilapidated conservatory walls. There was the frequent sound of a raccoon or opossum or cat scuttering around outside the property. But no ghosts.</p><p>It was around three in the morning, when Lance was starting to nod off against Hunk’s shoulder, that Pidge perked up suddenly. “Guys, do you hear that?”</p><p>“I swear to god, if it’s another window pane, I will personally unscrew each of the hinges in this goddamn house,” Lance grumbled. </p><p>“No, it can’t be - all the other windows were closed, and I shut that other one tight. Besides, it’s not that; it’s like… music? Do you guys not hear it?”</p><p>The two men listened for a moment, their expressions slowly tightening in confusion. </p><p>“I can kinda hear it, but only if I focus. It feels like it’s in my imagination; I can’t pinpoint where it’s coming from.” </p><p>Pidge looked up at the cornice area for any retrofitted vents that might be carrying the sound from elsewhere in the house, but there was no such thing present. The three wandered around the sitting room, so fascinated that they forgot entirely to grab their equipment. When the search within the sitting room yielded no results, they exited into the wide entrance hall. The music was ever so slightly louder out here - a dreamy, poignant melody with happy plucked notes that danced along one’s mind like sunshine on the skin. As a group, they stepped cautiously towards the door to the drawing room and looked through the doorframe. </p><p>Hunk gasped. </p><p>The drawing room was definitely the source of the music, but more importantly, it was occupied. Inside the wide space, two gauzy figures in a close embrace danced and twirled around the room, laughing in each other’s arms, weaving in and out through the silvery moonbeams streaming in from the dark night. Though translucent and emanating a subtle cerulean glow, they were unmistakably the young heirs of the Shirogane household, dressed casually in their suspenders, hair fluttering in a non-existent breeze. Their voices were soft and light, like a whisper in the wind. Their laughter airy, joyful. On and on they gracefully stepped to the sound of the disembodied music, stopping every now and then to look into each other’s eyes and come together in a gossamer kiss.</p><p>The ghost hunters watched the two men in rapt silence, unable to shake the feeling that they were intruding on an intimate scene. The couple was so clearly in love, living out in eternity the happiness that was robbed from them in life. Blissfully unaware of their living human audience, the pair eventually sat down on one of the uncovered settees as if they were a regular family spending another regular day in the home they had always known. When they leaned into each other to cuddle close together, Pidge slowly grabbed her companions’ shirts and pulled them quietly away from the door. </p><p>Without saying a word, the trio retreated to the sitting room and stood for a moment in silence. Hunk sniffed and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.</p><p>“We don’t need the money that badly anyway, right?” said Lance.</p><p>Pidge nodded soberly. “If we prove the previous sightings and expose them, the crowds will rush in. They might even open the house as an attraction.”</p><p>“They’ll lose their home and privacy,” said Hunk. “This one bubble of peace they’ve found...”</p><p>“They looked so happy,” Pidge murmured, swiping roughly at her eyes when she thought the other two weren’t looking. </p><p>The three looked wistfully towards the drawing room, then at each other with unanimous resolve. Slowly, each one cracked a soft smile. </p><p>“It’s too bad we couldn’t find any evidence of ghosts here,” said Hunk behind his conspiratorial grin.</p><p>Lance mirrored it. “Guess we’ll just have to keep looking.”</p><p>They packed up that same night and closed the door quietly behind them when they left, that simple, happy melody staying with them for a little while as they set back out into the long night.</p><p> </p><p>The End… and on, and on.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>For those who might be curious, <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/AntrimHouse.jpg">this is my reference for the Shirogane house</a>, and <a href="https://imgur.com/a/IhhwkBN">here is the house's original 1902 ground floor plan.</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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